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THE HOSPITALITY sector is increasingly counting on domestic meetings, incentives, conventions, and exhibitions (MICE) demand as geopolitical tensions and the worldwide energy crisis proceed to weigh on international travel, based on an analyst.<\/span><\/p>\n Quirino Teo, executive director for investment services at Savills Philippines, said international MICE demand, particularly large-scale global conferences, incentive travel groups from North Asia, and multinational product launches, stays under pressure.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s compensating, and that is the more interesting story, is domestic MICE,\u201d he said in a Viber message on Friday.<\/p>\n He identified Philippine corporations, government agencies, and the data technology and business process management (IT-BPM) sector because the most important drivers of domestic MICE demand, with the IT-BPM industry accounting for about 58% of MICE space utilization for town halls, offsite leadership meetings, client events, and compliance training.<\/p>\n The healthcare and financial technology sectors are also emerging as regular sources of demand, he added.<\/p>\n Visitor arrivals reached 6.48 million in 2025, based on Bureau of Immigration data, while the Department of Tourism (DoT) is targeting 6.7 million arrivals this 12 months.<\/p>\n Arrivals within the 11 months to November 2025 fell 2.16% 12 months on 12 months to five.24 million, weighed by weaker inflows from South Korea and China. This compares with significantly higher volumes in neighboring markets equivalent to Malaysia (38.2 million), Thailand (32.9 million), and Vietnam (21.1 million).<\/span><\/p>\n On the provision side, hotels in Makati\u2019s central business district and the Bay Area proceed to guide the market, with around 21,000 hotel room keys in operation, based on Savills data.<\/p>\n The firm also noted that hotels in Bonifacio Global City (BGC), Taguig, are posting the very best occupancy rates.<\/p>\n Asked about corporate preferences for township-integrated hotels versus standalone MICE-oriented properties, Mr. Teo said integrated developments have a competitive advantage.<\/p>\n \u201cA hotel inside a township with a reputable convention center advantages from base-load MICE bookings that fill shoulder periods when leisure and transient corporate demand softens,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n He added that the mixture of Grade A office stock, retail components, and convention infrastructure creates a self-reinforcing demand ecosystem that standalone hotels are unable to duplicate.<\/p>\n Nevertheless, Mr. Teo cautioned that the influx of latest hotel developments in provincial markets could create supply-side risks, particularly in areas where supporting infrastructure stays underdeveloped.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s a classic supply moving ahead of demand scenario, and it carries real risk,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Metro Manila stays the country\u2019s primary hub for large-format MICE events due to the significant infrastructure gap between the capital and regional markets, he added.<\/p>\n Mr. Teo cited the Bay Area convention cluster, which incorporates the SMX Convention Center, World Trade Center Metro Manila, and the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC), as having a long time of gathered capability and supplier ecosystems that other regions cannot quickly replicate.<\/span><\/p>\n The PICC reopened in September 2025 after undergoing a six-month renovation.<\/p>\n Asked whether the Visayas and Mindanao regions are emerging as alternative MICE hubs to Metro Manila, Mr. Teo said Cebu stays the exception, while most other regional markets are still within the \u201cMICE-aspirational phase somewhat than MICE-ready.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cCebu is a real and growing exception. It has the hotel stock and a convention center that may credibly host regional association conferences and incentive groups,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cDevelopers are taking note, and the MICE pipeline there may be more demand-anchored than in most other regional markets.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cFor the remaining of Visayas and Mindanao, the honest assessment is that the majority markets are still within the MICE-aspirational phase somewhat than MICE-ready,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we’re watching closely is whether or not infrastructure investments, particularly in road and port connectivity across the Visayas and Mindanao, speed up fast enough to justify the hotel pipelines being announced.\u201d \u2014 Juliana Chloe A. Gonzales<\/b><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" SMX CONVENTION CENTER \u2014 SMXCONVENTIONCENTER.COM THE HOSPITALITY sector is increasingly counting on domestic meetings, incentives, conventions, and exhibitions (MICE) demand as geopolitical tensions and the worldwide energy crisis proceed to weigh on international travel, based on an analyst. Quirino Teo, executive director for investment services at Savills Philippines, said international MICE demand, particularly large-scale global […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":340278,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[9402,3952,6956,23534,4874,4631,2918],"class_list":["post-340277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-domestic","tag-foreign","tag-hospitality","tag-mice","tag-slows","tag-travel","tag-turns"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=340277"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340277\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":340280,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340277\/revisions\/340280"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/340278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=340277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=340277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=340277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}